Article Understanding Stitch Markers And There Uses

So, What is a Stitch Marker you may ask and what is their purpose?

Of all the crochet & knitting tools in my knitting pouch, stitch markers are the smallest, BUT they’re the ones I use most often. A stitch marker is a knitting tool used to identify an important place in your crochet or knitting. You can find them in many fixed forms, as rings, or as a  locking stitch marker.

     Stitch markers are often usually made of plastic or metal—that can be slipped onto a knitting needle to mark a certain place in a row. These are handy little accessories to have in your knitting toolkit and many will work for crochet projects as well.

     From marking a place in your row to holding dropped stitches until you can fix them, stitch markers have a number of uses. You can also choose to buy stitch markers or make them yourself.

     But we’ll talk about all of this in detail as we work our way through this post. For now, just know that stitch markers are a really important item to have, every crocheter or knitter should have them in their notions kit.

     Stitch markers are an essential item for all crocheters and knitters alike what ones you choose to use often depends on the needles and type of wool you are using and the item you are creating and of course personal choice.

      These handy little tools, though small, are mighty in your knitting. They’re more useful than you can imagine. Today we’ll talk about what they are, how to use them, and the many ways they can help you crochet or knitting!

Most new knitters tend to use plastic stich markers when they first start as they are often the most easily to find and purchase when you are first starting out. Ask an experienced knitter what they use, and you’ll often find they have quite a few different ones in their stash of notions. The stitch markers pictured are the most common plastic stich markers available often available in bulk 100 packs, they can be used for crochet and knitting a like. They are great to use on bulky 8ply wool and are removeable so you can move them along with your work as you go.

The stitch markers pictured to the left here are a closed round metal jump ring stitch marker that fit on your knitting needles.

They are normally available in a standard sizes which tend to fit most knitting needles from 2mm to 7mm.

However, you can  often find handmade stitch markers for larger needles at your local craft store as most commercial stores normally only hold the basic standard stitch markers. They also come in a range of sizes to fit your knitting needles, and can be made from wood, metal, plastic, and other materials.

So, let's talk about the different stitch marker types available. There are mainly two common types of stitch markers used. They are Ring Stich Markers & Locking Stitch Markers

Ring Stitch Markers 

This style can be an enclosed form to slip on your needle or have a notched feature to slip onto the yarn itself. Stitch markers can also come in a variety of geometric shapes and colours. The most common are round stitch markers but I’ve also seen them in a variety of shapes, colours, and materials that they are made from. The assortment of colours and styles keeps things interesting and fun and once again it is personal choice on what you use.

Stitch markers can be used to mark your stitches, to keep track of your rows, remind you to turn at a specific place, or to skip a certain stitch. Hook reminders are intended to remind you of the hook size you’re using on a project – although they too can double as stitch markers in a pinch when you are stuck as well.

Locking Stitch Markers

Some locking stitch markers are similar to safety pins. Others have lobster clasps to hook onto your knitting, like the ones shown here to the right. You can slip some styles over the knitting needle but, most commonly, you can attach them to your knitting.

The locking type of marker is the most functional for all of your crochet & knitting projects.

Why? Well, because you can reposition them easily if you need to. With ring stitch markers, you have to work to that place in your knitting to move them.

Another reason why I love them is, they won't fall off of your knitting. With round markers, if I stop at the beginning of a round, it may drop off when I set my work down or Ill knit them into my project and then I have to frog my work to wear Ive knitted the marker into my work. I also may not notice until much later, which also then means frogging my work and a lot of frustration. This is why, especially when I'm knitting in the round, I tend to use and lock on a stitch marker most often for my projects.

How to Use Stitch Markers

If you’ve ever lost count of your knitting stitches or lost your place in your pattern, then knitting stitch markers are for you. Stitch markers are often kept on the needle, but you can also attach them to the knitting itself. In short, they are essential to knitters and a must-have because they are so helpful. Stich markers are also often referred to as to being used as when knitting in the round as well as flat knitting in patterns in pattern books.

Knitting In The Round

One way stitch markers can help is when you’re knitting in the round. In circular knitting, knowing where the knitting pattern begins, and ends will keep you from making a mistake. So, it’s a good idea to use them to mark the beginning of your work.

Flat Knitting

If you’re knitting flat, they can often mark the beginning or end of your row. Or, if you’re adding edge stitches to your knitting, stitch markers can separate the pattern from the knitted border.

You can also use stitch markers to mark the right side (RS) or wrong side (WS) of your knitting or even to mark your increases and decreases. Maybe you’ve just cast on a lot of stitches, like in the image here where the pink stitch markers have been placed to help keep count of your stitches.

Speaking of place markers in knitting, let’s also talk about how you might find them written in knitting patterns.

Understanding knitting abbreviations can seem like reading a foreign language. In reality, though, these knitting terms are really quite simple. Here's what you need to know about stitch markers in knitting patterns. You can also use stitch markers to mark the right side (RS) or wrong side (WS) of your knitting or even to mark pattern increases and decreases. Maybe you’ve cast on a lot of stitches, and you’ve placed your stitch markers every ten stitches to keep count of your stitches, or you’ve marked at stitch with a different coloured stitch marker to let you know there is a pattern change coming up.

So, as you can see stitch markers can help you keep count of your stitches weather you are flat knitting or knitting in the round, instructions for the use of stich markers are often written into a pattern by the designer as well.

I am also going to cover the use of Stitch markers to note a Pattern Change a little for you as well in this article. As they are also handy for marking pattern repeats in your knitting, or changes in stitch patterns.

The image to the left here shows how to place a stitch marker in the knitting to mark a pattern change by using a single pick coloured stitch marker.

If you’re learning how to count rows in knitting, you can use stitch markers to help you. Say your knitting pattern calls for a certain number of row repeats. You could place a stitch marker every 5 or 10 rows. Then, you’d only need to count the markers as you work instead of counting each and every row.

Dropped a stitch in your crochet or knitting some time? I know I have at times often dropped a few stitches when Ive been tired or lost my concentration. Instead of leaving them to unravel you can also use a stitch marker to hold your dropped stitches in place until you can fix your knitting mistake. They will keep the dropped stitches from unravelling any further and doing more damage to your project.

Besides the multiple uses for stich markers weather flat knitting, knitting in the round, or just placing a marker or even using them for dropped stitches another area we need to cover is the common abbreviations and terms  used for placing a stitch marker. Whilst I’m not going to cover them all I will cover the main two common terms used.

The first one often seen in patterns is Place Marker (pm);

Some knitting patterns will often say place marker in the knitting instructions or write it as “pm”. What does this mean exactly? Well, when the pattern calls for this, you’d simply place a stitch marker on the right needle after the last worked stitch. As you continue to knit, you will come across this marker on every row or round thereafter. When you come back around to it, move, or slip the marker from the left to right needle.

Our next abbreviation we often see is Slip Marker (sm); This brings us to the knitting term “sm”, which is the abbreviation for slip marker. Once you’ve worked your marker into the pattern, you may encounter knitting instructions like this: K to marker, sm, m1, k to next marker, m1, sm, knit across.

Now, you may be asking: What does it mean to slip marker? Here you will move, or slip, the stitch marker from the left-hand needle to the right-hand needle. Then you would continue on with the pattern. To translate the above pattern, you would:

Knit to the marker, slip marker, make one (increase), knit to next marker, make one (increase), slip marker, then knit across to end.

From the images shared so far, you can see there’s a huge variety of stitch markers you can purchase and a variety of uses for them in our crafting whether it be crochet or knitting.

But, if you don’t like what’s available on the market, you could also make your own  stitch markers? These handy little tools, though small, are mighty in your crochet or knitting have a variety of purposes in pattern instructions as well as also variety coming in a variety of geometric shapes and colours plus, assortments of colours and styles to keep things interesting. Handmade stich markers are colourful fun and often referred to as a novelty stitch marker.

Novelty Stitch Markers

Novelty stitch markers can also come in a range of sizes to fit your knitting needles, and are often made from wire, acrylic beads, wood, metal, plastic, and other materials. Just take a look at these handmade numbered stitch markers Their definitely cute, right plus they serve a purpose.

They can also be another fun set with a little bit of everything weather being a lockable stitch marker which can used for counting rows or stitches, marking an increase or even a decrease in pattern. They are colourful and often bright, handmade plus they serve a purpose in your crochet and knitting as their often lockable or a slip on design.

There made with love by many crafters around the world and you by them to suit your personality, favourite colours or purchase them for just a purpose.

Whatever you decide to do, weather to buy or Diy, just be sure to keep them in a stitch marker case or container. Also, since they are quite small, and easily lost, you should also keep plenty on hand as you never know when you may need more.

If you’re a general crafter like I am, you probably have all the knitting supplies you need for handmade stitch markers. Personally, I love the feeling of accomplishment when I can make something cute AND useful such as a stitch marker. Stich markers are useful, colourful notions that serve a purpose to our crafting!

So have some fun with stitch markers in your Notion Kits!

Carey, Caszs Country Crafts.